Terms of Endearment
by CookieCatSU
Summary: Falling in love with Luz, caring for her, is an organic process. Eda doesn't even realize it's happening, until it's already snuck up on her. Or; Eda likes to act tough, but she's quick to get attached.


**The life of a criminal is difficult, and it has to be lonely, since you never know who you can or cannot trust. As a result, that bubble of trust extended is probably pretty small, leading to stronger bonds amongst those within it.**

**Honestly though, I just love the idea of Eda casually calling Luz or King sweetie. It's such a motherly thing to do.**

* * *

It's been 2 weeks, since Luz joined them. The days following have been chaotic, and tumultuous, and more exciting than anything Eda's experienced in years. Life had been getting too boring, too bland, before Luz showed up.

Today was one of those more… exciting days.

Eda was rather busy. She had orders to fill, potions to brew, knick knacks to sell, the whole shebang.

She flits frantically through the halls. Reaches her dusty study hidden near the corner of the houss, ducking in the doorway, snatching up the half torn tomes laying in the corners, only to remember she needed something else from her alchemy lab as well.

When she reaches the lab, she realizes that she doesn't have her ingredients list. She rushes back to the living room, where she left it jammed under the couch cushion, and snatches it out. She returns back to the lab, with its dusty walls and dusty shelves, only to realize that the jars lined up on those shelves are empty.

All that's left is a jar of dried snails, rather grimy and pitiful looking, in the faint glow of candle light.

To the store she'd go, then. She hardly had the time, and certainly not the patience, but she'd bite the bullet.

She needed those ingredients if she wanted to fill any of her more complicated orders, anyway.

She walks swiftly to the front door, summoning her staff and bag with a lazy swipe of her hand. She's about to turn and leave, when she notices Luz, laying on her stomach across the living room floor. It fails to register, for a moment, (she'd forgotten she was there, and she was frantic, scrambling, in such a rush). She pauses long enough to see her, really see her, to realize she hasn't even talked to the kid today (much less mentioned training) but she tells herself that she'll make it up to her when she got back.

There's a slam further off in the house, and Eda is reminded that she has things to do, places to be. Potions ingredients to buy. She throws the door open, and hollers absently over her shoulder,

"I'm heading to the market, pumpkin! Be back soon"

Luz's eyes get wide, almost startled, but Eda's halfway out the door, and fails to really notice.

Luz seems to process for a long moment. Then, she just smiles dubiously, and nods.

"Okay?"

Eda didn't know why she was acting so weird. As if she'd never left the kid alone in the house before,

"King'll still be here. Can't be trusted not to attack the merchants" She tells the kid, as a way to soothe her nerves (though, truthfully, being home alone with King was like being home with no one, from a safety perspective. Luckily, Luz was smart, so Eda had no concerns whatsoever).

Luz says nothing, which Eda takes as a great sign. Crisis averted, and whatnot.

She slams the door behind her, and is promptly on her way.

Luz sits silent in the living room, watching the retreating form of her mentor.

King sidles up to her then, sliding across the carpeted floor to land beside her, staring at her quizzically, as if she'd grown a third eyeball,

"Why's your mouth hanging open like that? Looks like you saw a ghost or something"

He pokes her in the face.

She snaps her jaw shut,

"Eda called me, pumpkin"

That's when King bursts into laughter.

King laughs. He laughs and laughs and laughs, until Luz was certain he'd need stitches. He clutches his stomach and rolls on the floor and just cackles for a good 3 minutes.

Luz wasn't sure what was so funny.

Finally, he laughs himself out, wiping a tear from his eye,

"That's priceless!" He sucks in a breath, unsteady, warbling with more unshed laughter, "She used to call me, dear, you know, until she finally caught herself. She thinks she's all aloof, and cool, but she's really just a _big_ softy"

He devolves into laughter again.

"Huh. Sounds like somebody else I know" Luz replies, grinning deviously. And then she snatches him up by his armpits and starts to tickle his belly.

"No!" He kicks and squirms valiantly between bouts of laughter, loud and buoyant and by no means amused! "Unhand me, hahaha, you big brute!"

"Never!"

"The Demon King compels you!'

Soon, they're both laughing, and the topic is quickly forgotten, in favor of tickle fights, hide and go seek, and ignoring their chores.

* * *

When Eda finally returns, half a day has passed, and the sky outside of the windows is dark and murky. The house is quiet, besides the soft noise of rain hitting the roof, a calming pitter patter.

"I'm back, Luz," Eda calls from the front of the house. She drops her staff near the doorway, stepping into the living room with arms laden with potion ingredients.

There's Luz, smiling up at her. Her eyes are lit up like stars, as she discards the coloring book she'd been crayoning in, jumping up in an instant.

"Are you going to teach me something now?" She asks.

Her hands are clenched in pure excitement as she jumps up and down at the prospect. Eda rolls her eyes, though she's inwardly amused by her eagerness.

"Please… please! Please!" She chants, and Eda swears she's shaking with excitement at this point.

Eda waves her hand, nonchalant, and uninterested in arguing about it. (She couldn't tell her no, with her looking at her like that anyway, she realizes within a moment).

"Alright, alright, fine" She says with a drawn out sigh, "Just let me drop these bags somewhere"

Within ten minutes, they're seated facing each other on the floor. Eda remains ramrod straight, explaining the spell they were about to perform to her young apprentice. Thunder crackles outside, flashes of lightning momentarily lighting up the living room.

Luz, however, appears distracted.

Eda can feel her patience running thin (not that she had much to start with). She pauses halfway through drawing the spell circle, swipes it away with a frustrated huff.

"I'm gonna need you to focus, hun" She snaps irritably, "This is complicated, erratic stuff"

The room for error was high, and Eda needed Luz to pay attention. She would hate to see the kid hurt. Not as if they had first aid for humans, and she'd hate to have to disrupt the day even further to take her to a healer.

Luz stares for a moment, slack jawed, before she says in a little, confused voice, "Hun?"

"What?"

A smile begins to form on the young girl's face. She points, smug and laughing,

"You called me hun"

Eda's brow furrows, and she shakes her head adamantly,

"No I didn't. I said Luz"

Luz just smiles, small and smug.

Eda grumbles, unamused, arms crossed over her chest,

"Can we please get back to the lesson now?"

Luz, still smiling like she'd just gotten her grubby little hands on the cookie jar, nods faintly.

At least she's attentive for the rest of the lesson, so Eda didn't have to worry about her losing any fingers, or hexing herself by accident. A relief indeed.

Eda never liked cleaning up others messes

* * *

Eda only notices all the little slips, really notices them, a few weeks later (She already knew something was afoot, with the way Luz and King were always looking at her funny, all amused and smug, like they knew something she didn't).

Luz is teary eyed, bruised and hurt. Crumpled pieces of paper litter the floor, the runes sketched upon them still faintly aglow with energy.

She can't bear to see her like this, head down, dragging. It hurts her heart, though hers died a long time ago, and she maybe should not care as much as she does.

She opens up her arms, and Luz rushes to fill them, throwing thin little appendages around her abdomen. Eda squeezes, flooded with concern and a great swell of affection she didn't think she'd ever feel for this little human who literally stumbled into her life,

"Your fine, hun. See? I've got you, sweetie" the name flows from her easily, smooth like water. Natural, and without thought.

It surprises her as soon as it leaves her mouth. She sits, stiff and frozen, for a long moment. Then Luz nuzzles into her side, hiccuping and crying, and Eda squeezes her to her chest, pushing past all of the surprise, all the hesitation.

She should have expected it. She had always been so fast to get attached. So quick to claim someone as her own.

And loathe as she was to admit it, Luz was one of her own. Luz was hers.

* * *

The next day, King sits down beside Eda in the dark quiet of her study, grinning up at her so smugly she wants nothing more than to strangle him.

"So, the Owl Witch does have a heart?" He coos, leaning over the desk as is he's trying to fall off, all faked surprise and astonishment.

Eda rolls her eyes.

"Oh shut up. You act like I'm the only one goin' soft"

The little demon clenched his jaw then, turning away from her as if she'd suggested something blasphemous.

"Am not!"

"Are too!" She spits back, chuckling, "Admit it, Mr. Wiggles, you adore her. She's your new best pal"

"Maybe"

"Don't maybe me. I have eyes"

She saw the way he lit up whenever the girl came into the room, scrambling to show her his next drawing, or to babble about some new demon she needed to know about. Luz always sat attentively, and Eda swears she's never seen him look happier than in those moments.

It was obvious how fond he was of her. Clear, in the way he seeked her out, and the way he laughed with her, and how fast he was to jump to her defense, growling, livid and fiercely protective.

Eda understood.

She and King had come to an understanding, surely, and they were close, but Eda had never had any interest in clumsy drawings or long, stumbling tales, and King, ruler of demons, had more important concerns than the little intricacies of magic.

They both found a pupil in Luz, she supposed.

"At least I don't call the kid my _little_ _sweetie pie_" He retorts in a sugary singsong, a mocking imitation of her, "that's all you"

A smug smile curls her lips.

"True. You let her give you _belly rubs_, instead"

That's when he jumps, tackling her with a frustrated growl.

"Off limits!" He howls, "Don't you dare mention that"

Eda just laughs. She's won the argument (not that it was much of an argument, anyway). They both knew it was true. No point in denying.

There was no questioning that Eda cared for Luz, after all. That was simply a given.


End file.
